Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

If you're looking for an anime with romance and relationships, this isn't what you're looking for. If you're looking for an anime with endless hilarity and gags that runs off love and romance, this is what you're looking for. This anime thrives off misjudgments and the characters.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an anime thats been the laughing central of this summer. With the theme of manga-artists becoming more popular lately such as, Manga-ka to assistant-san or mangirl ,it's becoming much more attractive and interesting to watch. This is a gem that's becoming popular due to its laughable characters and misinterpretations that occur all the time.

The ... story follows Sakura, a girl who tries to tell her crush that she likes him, but gets misinterpreted and ends up becoming his assistant. She often tries to get closer to him, but always gets misjudged and makes for some hilarious comedy. The story follows their life at school along with some other cast members to make the show enjoyable and a lot more entertaining to watch as a whole. With the running gag of it being comedy, some things may seem predictable, but it still stays original and has comedy in every episoded.

The characters are all really unique in their own way and is the strongest part of the show. With all the different characters you get hilarious situations that really makes the show stand out from the rest that's airing and one that takes comedy to the next level with their personalities.

You have Sakura, a girl who tries often to get close to her crush, but is always misinterpreted. She's a great person who makes the show better with her retorts and delusions that she thinks is going to happen, but the exact opposite happens. Over time she develops a bond with Nozaki and really makes for some friendship and gave a light feeling to make you smile at every scene.

Second you have Nozaki, a manga artist and one that people often misjudge. Since he stays up to draw and produce manga, he looks like he gets into fights, but really is only just aches and pains from the constant drawing and late nights. He's oblivious to Sakura's feelings and really makes up for some hilarious reactions that he gives to what he thinks she's doing.

The art style is nothing new to the 2014 style, yet brings out details that makes it better than some of the anime airing. With all the details in the characters clothes, to the beautiful scenery that they go through in their situations, it brings out a sense of comedy to support the bickering and the interactions between all the characters. With the art being one of the strong points, you have beautiful details in every aspect that they bring to the table. The characters all have unique features and traits that belong to them and wonderful backdrops such as the school, or just at their house.

The opening is nothing to be praised for, but is super catchy. The background music for this anime is one that supports the mood that the anime gives off perfectly. The opening and ending gives off the perfect feeling to start every episode and is one that I never skip. The voice actors are all really well and give the characters life to make the anime as enjoyable as possible. The voice actor for Sakura is relatively new to voice acting, but does a wonderful job portraying her character and is one of the best in the show.

Overall this anime is one of the best of Summer 2014 line up and is definitely worth watching. With it's wonderful characters and hilarious situations they get themselves into, this is one that brings out the comedy in the simplest things. You have the standard 2014 art style, yet it makes it better by adding details to make every quality shine and make it so everything stands out to the fullest. The OST is wonderful and support each scene perfectly and the opening is so catchy that you just can't help but enjoy listening to. I recommend anyone who didn't check this out yet to start watching it.

It's a rare thing to find a romance anime that appeals to both a male and female audience. It is even rarer to find one that does so without sexualising its characters.

Gekkan Shoujo gives us hope for the stagnant, often juvenile climate of the romance genre. It doesn't rely on obnoxious misunderstandings to keep the two main characters from joining together (although misunderstandings do still exist with a sense of self-aware humour), nor does it need onsen scenes, pantyshots and implied homolust to keep the audience's attention towards its characters. All it's interested in doing is giving the audience a good laugh while nudging a ... few heartstrings along the way, and it does so with its head held high.

A quick glance at the synopsis would be enough for some to roll their eyes and dismiss the show as 'Yet Another Shoujo Anime'. An innocent girl attempts to confess to the boy she likes in an empty classroom room dyed of scarlet (the setting of seemingly every confession scene in anime), only to find out that he is actually a famous shoujo mangaka. And one of her favourites, no less. Uh-huh. Right.

But Gekkan Shoujo knows better. It is aware of its absurd premise and the clichés inherent to the genre. It embraces them, plays with them with a clever sort of irony, never taking itself too seriously nor forcing its viewers to feel a certain way. At its core it is certainly your typical shoujo anime, but the way it handles itself is quite the opposite.

The story primarily follows the events of Chiyo and the titled Nozaki. Chiyo, perhaps reluctantly, but nonetheless willing to follow the company of the boy she likes, assists Nozaki in his daily tasks as a mangaka, hoping one day he might realise and respond to Chiyo's feelings. Gradually she begins to understand that Nozaki doesn't quite live up to the 'cool, handsome and composed' image she had of him, and that in reality, he is so lacking in common sense that it is a mystery how he was even serialised in the first place.

Nozaki's obliviousness is undoubtedly the show's main source of laughter. In one scene, Nozaki accidentally draws one of his characters above the ground and, having the issue pointed out to him, draws a random box underneath the character, nodding his head and acting like everything is now right with the world. He then starts drawing boxes underneath the character in every scene afterwards, which understandably results in one of Nozaki's friends yelling to him how it makes no sense for the character to be carrying around and standing on random boxes all the time. Nozaki's response? "Right. I have to add an explanation."

The comedy works so well because Nozaki's train of thought always makes, at least in his own little world, a slight fraction of sense. He just has no idea how people actually behave and ends up misinterpreting the actions of others in a completely asinine, facepalm-inducing and yet hilarious manner. That's not to say that each joke is masterful and clever, or even that all of them work (because a few certainly do fall utterly flat), but the simple manzai format works in perfect harmony with the ridiculous premise of the story. It knows how to make fun of itself while still holding onto a semblance of sincerity.

One of the more respectable aspects of Gekkan Shoujo is how it also focuses on its side characters beyond the usual 'idiot friend', 'strict class president' and 'arrogant love rival' archetypes. Hori and Wakamutsu in particular are two characters who would normally be treated as nothing more than background fodder in the average anime for not having a colourful character design or 'wacky' personality. But in Gekkan Shoujo they are given important roles and treated with about as much attention and respect as Nozaki and Chiyo. They even have their own love interests who play relevant roles on their own (as opposed to simply being a plot device, as many often are in anime). There's a surprising amount of complexity to the character dynamic despite the general simplicity of the show's format.

I suppose if there was one thing to criticise about the characterisation, it would be the inconsistency of Mikoshiba. He's handsome, eloquent-- so much so that virtually every girl in the school is head-over-heels for him-- but at the same time he is portrayed as introverted, socially awkward and obsessed with otaku hobbies, to the point where he uses eroge to study real-world interaction. The latter aspect of his personality does not feel convincing in the slightest, so his comedic scenes often fall pretty flat. To feel comedy is to empathise with the characters, and there was little to no empathy between me and Mikoshiba.

Those watching strictly for the romance will likely find themselves disappointed, because, really, aside from a small handful of scenes, maybe three or four, it is virtually non-existent. The most heartwarming thing about the show is not the idea of the two slowly becoming a couple, but that Chiyo still loves Nozaki from the bottom of her heart despite finding out about his glaring flaws. The love here feels genuine, far more so than most 'serious' romance anime where the girl screams at the guy when he stops acting like a prince. Progression itself isn't what makes or breaks the romance in a story.

Gekkan Shoujo is visually pleasant. The characters (particularly the males) are drawn realistically, and while it does still portray them all as idealised and attractive, it never goes overboard by drawing them in lewd or excessively 'moe' scenarios. The sound on the other hand is nothing special aside from the opening track, although, to be fair, it is a pretty great OP. It captures the silly yet relaxed nature of the show exceptionally well, and by the final episodes I found myself thinking it sacrilege to skip it.

Sure, while it may not be doing anything outstanding enough to be remembered decades in the future, Gekkan Shoujo is still an excellent experience for anyone who simply wants to relax and have a few laughs. It doesn't bombard the viewer with melodrama or degrade its characters through fanservice, and what little romance there is is handled with care and sincerity. That it also happens to appeal to so many people at once without leaving anyone uncomfortable is perhaps just a bonus.

Oh, and Chiyo is possibly the cutest thing ever.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is about a girl named Chiyo who tries to confess to her crush. He misunderstands her confession and decides to take her as his assistant, because, as it turns out, he is a romance manga author, and he seeks inspiration from the people he knows to create his characters.

At first, the show is alright at what it does, it's your average character-driven comedy. For the first few episodes, it introduces the characters and establishes their personality. It's nothing special, but it has potential.

These are the stock characters and their relationships from shoujo manga that are parodied:

1: Chiyo is ... the main girl who falls in love with the serious and mysterious main guy who is Nozaki. The latter is oblivious.

2: Mikoshiba is like the main girl from several shoujo romance manga that frequently stumbles on her own words and embarrasses herself in front of others, causing her to monologue wistfully about being an idiot. The joke is that, despite being a guy, he acts like a girl, therefore Nozaki writes him as a girl in his manga. Do you get it?

3: Hori is like the Tsundere girl who gets pissed at the handsome suave person who Kashima is. Basically, a gender-flipped Misaki and Usui from Maid-sama, minus the stalking and sexual harassment.

4: Wakamatsu is like the sweet, ever-forgiving girl who gets frustrated at the rude person who is Seo. He falls in love with Seo's voice, however, without realizing it's hers. Just like in superhero comics.

The show is meant to be a parody of shoujo romance manga, which is part of what got me interested in watching in the first place. I've read some of those, so I know what their usual flaws are: basic characterization, forced romance, lack of creativity in terms of premise, etc. If you've read one, you've read them all. So when I heard this was a parody of that, I was looking forward to it.

However, comedy anime is unfortunately not very good at remaining consistently funny, and often would rather remain repetitive rather than come up with something new or original. This is sadly the case with this show. It has the same problem as a lot of comedy anime seem to have these days, which I like to call "punchline decay": it sticks to a very rigid formula and gives the characters one or two personality traits, which I have previously mentioned, and bases all of its jokes around them. Nearly every joke that ever gets made in this show boils down to the same punchlines. They're not so much characters as much as they are running gags. But running gags require variations in order to stay fresh, which doesn't happen with the characters in this show. I certainly don't watch comedy shows expecting deep, three-dimensional characterization, but it gets stale quick if the characters have nothing more to them.

This is where my problem with it lies. Most of the parody just boils down to taking romance character stereotypes, changing the gender... and that's it. There isn't anything to the parody beyond that, especially pointless since the same characters or situations had already been gender-reversed or parodied in certain other series to begin with. More often than not, it plays out these situations without much in the way of irony to make a joke work. (I don't consider making a character type who is usually a girl into a boy to be ironic if it goes down that path too often.) Very rarely does the show ever actually do anything of actual substance with the parody aspect, which is a shame, since the show is at its best whenever it does that.

Similar to a harem anime, the only novelty in this comes from introducing new characters that fit into one character archetype, and once you already know what the joke will be with each character and it has already beaten their gimmicks into the ground, the show has nothing to offer. To put the character's lack of dynamism into perspective, half of the characters don't even have any personality of their own, and instead their personality is entirely dictated by their relation to another character. Chiyo's personality is dictated by her love of Nozaki, Wakamatsu's personality is dictated by his dislike of Seo, and Hori's personality is dictated by him beating up Kashima, etc. There isn't anything else to them really. I'm fine with background characters or supporting characters in comedies being one-dimensional, but not the main ones.

In regards to the romance manga parodies, it doesn't do a whole lot with it. It makes a few obvious jokes about that, like having sparkles or rose petals flying around the characters, and what it's like working as a mangaka. One example of such humor is a gag where three of the characters challenge each other to draw three assorted things. Two of them draw well, and the other draws poorly, except for the last one which they all draw poorly. Hilarious. I could never have seen that coming. The rest is your typical school comedy.

One of the points of a comedy is to subvert your expectations. Mikoshiba saying one of his dating sim lines and getting embarrassed afterward surely subverted my expectations the first time I saw it. Unfortunately, it didn't subvert them the fiftieth time nor the hundredth. It only subverted my expectations once for each of its characters, and then never again.

Basically, my criticism is that the show is cliché, in spite of meaning to poke fun at clichés. It's not bad for being conventional, but even if this were my first comedy anime, I still wouldn't like it that much due to its repetition. I'd still be thinking, "alright, I get it, this character has this trait to them. Are we getting to another joke soon?"

Admittedly, there were a couple of moments I thought were hilarious: Nozaki and Mikoshiba playing a dating sim in episode 4, and Nozaki having his characters stand on boxes to avoid misproportions when drawing in episode 8. I enjoyed these jokes because they showed unusual ways to deal with unexpected drawbacks in trying to draw or get inspiration for a story, which I found relatable. However, while these two scenes were funny, I didn't feel like it was worth watching the whole show just to laugh at only two scenes and be bored for the rest. I can't help but feel like even if I had dropped the show, I wouldn't have missed out on anything.

The show has a lot of good ideas, which could have ended up resulting in a genuinely clever show, but in my opinion, it never attempts to actually do anything with said potential nor does it take any risks, merely relying on the same 5 or 6 jokes and ends up a mediocre comedy, just as forgettable as the very same romance manga that it wants to parody. It's cute, but I tend to like shows when they have more substance than that. If there were more characters, there might be more different jokes based on how they interact with each other, but most of the humor revolves around their one personality trait regardless of who's interacting with who.

As much as I've been harping on the subject for the entire review, I don't want to make it sound like I believe that this show is any more repetitive than most other comedy anime, because it isn't. I only wrote this review because I watched this show at a time when I really became annoyed by this trend. If I had seen it at a different time, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. From recollection, most of any given episode takes place either at school or at Nozaki's apartment, and most episodes revolve around him trying to find ideas for his manga. Part of my apathetic opinion on it might be because I think I tend to like comedy anime better when there is a larger variety of situations that the characters find themselves in. I just feel like Nozaki-kun doesn't have enough variety in its humor to hold up for 12 episodes.

If you generally like comedy anime, then I'd recommend watching it and you'll probably enjoy it. This is by no means a terrible anime, even though I don't care for it. Otherwise, if you're like me and think a lot of comedy anime tends to miss the mark on humor, this likely won't do anything to change your mind. If you're looking for something more original in terms of characters and humor, you're better off looking for something else instead. There's certainly worse shows out there in regards to this, but there's also far better ones as well.

*WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, BUT NOT HEAVY SPOILERS*

The idea behind the story is not an entirely bad concept. Of course it has become a generic plot idea to base an anime on creating a manga. I mean c'mon, it seems like every year there is either an anime or a manga where the theme is based on creating a manga. However, the way this show presents the manga creator and the interactions between him and his assistants can be quite warm on the heart.
So, why does the story get a lower score from me? Because of HOW it tells this story and how it ... all goes to shit at a fast paced speed.

The story goes something like this....
The main character is Sakura Chiyo, who happens to be in love with the most painfully aloof guy in the entire fucking world, Nozaki Umetarou. One day Sakura confesses her love to Nozaki while they're at school. Because of the fact that Nozaki is either in complete denial, or possibly stupid, he assumes she's a fan and signs an autograph for her despite her not even asking for one. So, this eventually leads to Nozaki asking Sakura to become his assistant since she's an artist herself. Obviously, like any other generic anime female character would, she doesn't try to explain to him what she really meant and she agrees to becoming his bitc...I mean assistant.

Now the thing about this plot is that it heavily revolves around the interactions the characters have with one another. This is why I say that despite the IDEA of the story not being a bad one, it's told in one of the worst ways possible. Why is it told in one of the worst ways possible? Because majority of the characters you meet throughout the series make you cringe.

Let me just start off by saying which character I like the most, and that would be Mikoto (Mikorin) Mikoshiba. It is surprising that with such poorly written characters that Mikorin managed to stay consistently well written and consistently entertaining. You see, Mikorin is obviously supposed to be the hot guy of the show (and the guy Sakura should have chosen, but that's for another story). Even though Mikorin is considered very good looking, he is a complete otaku dweeb who gets painfully shy around a group of people. Some have considered his character too far-fetched and that if someone was that good looking then they would not behave like such a socially scared nerd, but that is all far from the truth. We cannot simply dismiss a character because he doesn't appear realistic, or just because he doesn't fit other generic anime stereotypes everyone seems to be used to.
Mikorin is definetly one of the better written male characters in a slice of life anime, and he was the main reason I was able to finish this series.

Now you are probably wondering what was so wrong with the rest of the cast if Mikorin was so great. Just keep in mind that this is purely based off of what I consider to be my objective reasoning as well as subjective reasoning (because nobody in this world can be 100% objective all the time).
Let's start with Sakura, who was not terrible nor great...she was who she was. Her entire existance is based on the fact that she loves Nozaki. There is really nothing else about her that makes her standout as an individual character other than the fact that she's the main character (and kind of cute at times).

Nozaki is someone who is mentally unaware of almost everything around him, despite him being this so called amazing manga creator. He comes off as so bland and so unaware of social cues that it begins to infuriate you by the second episode. We all know his character isn't supposed to be this sporadic and overally emotional guy, but his drab demeanor could have benefited from some sort of development of his personality.

Since the two main characters are obviously nothing special, and since the entire plot is based upon Sakura's love for Nozaki, the series was in dire need of some dynamic characters. Although, the series could have possibly been better without the rest of the cast altogether...

You have Yuzuki, who happens to be great at sports and great at singing despite being even more aloof than Nozaki. That's right boys and girls, we couldn't have just one severely obtuse character that already intensifies the frustration factor. Instead, the creators decided to give us two severely obtuse characters, hooray!

There is also Yuu, a girl who hits on all the other girls at the school and makes all the guys jealous of her "swag". I actually thought the idea of her character was quite enticing, but the writers fell flat with keeping you entertained by her.

There is also the worst character of this entire fucking series, Masayuki...we'll get to why he's the worst a little later.

The last person I will name is Hirotaka, the character that nobody gives two damns about. The only reasons why I am mentioning him is because of his interaction with Nozaki and Yuzuki.

I would name everyone else, but the rest of those characters either don't matter and should have never been in the series in the first place, or they were there because they HAD to be in the series but they didn't contribute to making the plot any better.

From watching this series it appears as though the creators wanted to defy typical anime stereotypes that are shown in every other series known to man. There is only one problem, they decided to take these stereotypes and simply switch the genders...which makes them what? Still stereotypes!

Instead of Yuu being a man who gets all the girls, her character is a woman. And despite Masayuki being the opitomy of an abusive tsundere piece of shit (which is a more common stereotype for female characters in anime) his character is a man.
Masayuki always seems to be annoyed with Yuu for absolutely NO reason, and if he has a reason it is never ever justified. Now, I am already uncomfortable with how physical female tsundere characters can be towards other male characters, but when it is the other way around it becomes even more uncomfortable (especially since the ONE thing that seperates men and women is physiology, and unfortunately the general amount of women are not able to physically handle a hit from a man). Masayuki is constantly punching and kicking Yuu around, despite Yuu never really doing anything for it to be deserved. However, the creators are trying to convince that since Yuu seems to be into other women and because she comes off as a male character that we should all be okay with this already fucked up stereotype of beating up people you call your friends (or those they have a crush on). Normally you see in other anime that when a female character hits a male character it is okay because of the fact that it is a woman hitting a man, which is already not okay. However, the stereotype is switched here and we should all simply except it because a female character is considered "barely female" so long as she behaves like a man *rolls eyes*.
You can claim that I may be reading into it, but even if their interactions don't require anyone to read into that deeply it doesn't stop it from being exaspirating to watch.

You also have the interactions between Yuzuki and Hirotaka, whom depending upon who you are, had probably contributed to some of the more pointless scenes of this series. Yuzuki could have been entertaining by herself, but the fact that she was dragged down by Hirotaka's obsession for why he thought Yuzuki would pick on him added to the amount of frustration I already had for this show. More often you see in other anime series that cliche of the male character coming across as if he didn't like another cliche female character, even though he did actually liked her (which I guess we are to assume was the case here). However, I could have excused this cliche so long as there was some sort of development between the two...but there was none.

Speaking of character development, did I mention there is none?...abso...lutely...none.
Now, I was willing to look past that flaw, but the problem is that these characters are so poorly written and their interactions are so cringe worthy that if each one had developed in a fervent way then it could have saved the plot.
The only character that was a well written cliche and wasn't in dreadful need of development was Mikorin and his "otakuness".

This series had the opportunity to defy cliche stereotypes and create a great and unique slice of life anime. Instead the writers not only contributed to these cliche stereotypes, but they made them more profound.

Keep in mind, this is a more popular aime series and is well loved by many fans. So my reasons for not liking it does not reflect the way you as an individual has to feel about this series.
I say give this a shot regardless of how I feel, but no amount of convincing will change my opinion on why I gave this show the rating that I did.

SIDE NOTE: I heard from a friend that they happened to enjoy the manga more than they did the anime. So I suppose that is always worth looking into.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is about a high school girl, Sakura Chiyo, who has a crush on her schoolmate, Nozaki Umetarou, a shoujo manga artist. She tried to confess to him but was mistaken as a fan of his manga and ended up as one of his assistants. Then, revolving around these two, the story goes on.

Sounds a lot like a typical shoujo romance, right? Let me correct that, GSNK is all about comedy. Bits of cute moments here and there but mainly comedy and it's done right.

While the plot is simple enough to be summed up in mere sentences, the characters are definitely the strongest ... point of this anime. The main cast consists of seven. There are four guys — the mangaka, the self-proclaimed playboy, the drama club senpai plus the basketball kouhai. And three girls — the heroine, the oblivious Lorelei and the prince of the school. Yes, prince. You read it right. Individually, they have their quirks and are so likable you'll have a hard time picking a favorite. (In case you happen to hate all of them, fear not, there are also lots of tanukis)

The best parts, however, are their relationships and their interactions. Thanks to the creativity of the author, this group of characters plays off of each other so well you can randomly throw any two or more of them in a normal high school life situation, add some shoujo manga-related topics, think from their perspectives, let them converse for a while and get a laugh or two out of it.

Basically, that's what GSNK is all about.

The animation is what you would expect from a 2014 anime and the art style is faithful to the original manga. OP and ED songs are very catchy and fit the light-hearted atmosphere of the anime. I actually like the opening song a lot. As for other OSTs, I honestly couldn't catch them because I was busy laughing. The VAs are great. There're many famous names in the cast (Miyano Mamoru is the protagonist of Nozaki's manga, mind you) but my favorite is Ozawa Ari. She portrayed Sakura perfectly.

For enjoyment, I didn't read the manga before and I enjoyed watching the anime very much. I also prefer this anime version even after reading.

Overall, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is fun, refreshing and very easy to get into. Personally, I love it so if you're looking for something different, if you like comedy or if you want a shoujo version of Gintama, I highly recommend this anime.

Before writing the actual review, I'd just like to throw something out there. I am a HUGE fan of romance. About 90% of the entries in my anime & manga list have some form of romance. I'm the kind of guy who'd drop a point or two if there isn't a conclusive ending. However, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an exception. In fact, after some time, I really didn't care if the show was going to be conclusive or not. This should show you just how great of a show it is for me to toss aside my ideals. If you're looking for a romance, ... turn back now because for the most part, the romance aspect is only implemented for comedic and adorable situations, not actual romance.

In terms of plot, I'd say it doesn't really have one. Yea, in the first episode, Chiyo Sakura tries to confess to Nozaki and accidentally becomes his assistant, but this was just to get things started. If anything Gekkan (How I'll refer to the show whenever I bring it up) is like The Daily Lives of High Schools Boys and Nichijou, in that the show mostly focuses on the characters, mostly the main group of friends, and their interactions with one another plus their antics on a day to day basis, so basically an episodic anime. Episodic anime can be a hit or miss depending on what you're looking for, but if it's comedy, it's usually a hit and Gekkan is definitely a hit.

Quite frankly, the interactions in Gekkan are absolutely heart-warming. Unlike most romance anime, Gekkan doesn't give you false hope. In romance anime, some interactions may piss you off because you don't want anyone intervening between two certain characters or you know its going to lead to some face-palm inducing misunderstanding. On the other hand, Gekkan gives you moments that you just want more and more of. Being they're adorable and they don't throw in characters for the sake of wavering feelings. Not to mention, a majority of the moments are extremely hilarious. Most, if not all them, got laughing me for at least a good minute. Gekkan is just that good at portraying certain scenarios. In other shows, these scenarios just wouldn't be as funny, they might even make you shake your head or cringe in embarrassment. In the end, Gekkan's "plot" gives a wide array of heart-warming, adorable, and amusing moments.

Seeing as how the show revolves around the lives of people who do some form of art work, it'd be really sad, if the art turned out to be lackluster. Thankfully, it isn't. The characters are drawn very well and their reactions never fail to amuse me. The scenery isn't bad itself.

For me, the OP is one of the catchiest openings, I've ever heard. I always find myself humming or singing parts of the song from time to time. The ending as well is pretty good. I don't know really know if this makes sense, but the ending just gives off a vibe that's the ending. It just actually sounds like the end of something. Lastly, the voice actors are amazing too, their voices perfectly align with the characters.

The characters are what I find to be the strongest part of the show. Without their quirks, the show just wouldn't be the same. Never have I seen an anime that has such a likable cast.

The first character of this wonderful cast is Chiyo Sakura. A petite and extremely adorable girl who tries to win over Nozaki, but unfortunately fails, due to Nozaki's unusual density. She is also quite optimistic believing certain situations will finally bring her and Nozaki together, but it's never the case, with it being either a misunderstanding or insensitive actions on Nozaki's side.

The second character is Umetarou Nozaki. A tall man who is completely oblivious to real life scenarios despite being an author of romantic manga. A good portion of the comedy comes from this guy. He works on a logical level rather than an emotional one thus he doesn't hesitate to do things, others would see as rude or inconsiderate. With these actions, comes misunderstandings or thoughts of how indirectly cruel Nozaki is. It may sound bad at first, but these scenes are always hilarious. You may feel bad for Chiyo, but it will still leaving you laughing.

The third major character were introduced to is Mikoto Mikoshiba, a gorgeous and smooth-talking man. Guys like these tend to come off as annoying in Shoujos, but Mikoto isn't exactly as I described him to be. In reality, he blushes every time he tries to smooth talk a girl and even though he can get any girl he wants, he's an avid player of dating sims and collector of female figurines.

Next, we have Masayuki Hori, the president of the Drama Club. He's an astounding actor who punishes Yuu Kashima almost every episode for either laziness, flirting, or just idiotic antics.

Yuu Kashima is the arch-rival of Mikoto as well as the Prince of the School, but she's also a girl. Essentially, she's a reverse trap. Kashima frequently tries to impress Hori, but he just finds it annoying. Many would say he's just a tsundere though.

Next, we have Yuzuki Seo, a cruel cruel mistress. She's quite socially inept as she can never sense the atmosphere and she finds great pleasure in using pain to get what she wants.

Then we have Hirotaka Wakamatsu, an innocent and naive basketball player, who is always on the receiving end of Seo's painful actions.

There are also supporting characters such as Mitsuya Maeno, Nozaki's former editor, a guy you should hate but just can't. In short, the cast of Gekkan is extremely likable to the point, where they can turn annoying tropes into wonderful and fabulous characters.

Overall, Gekkan is a great show that knows how to play its cards right when it comes to using romance for comedy. They know their boundaries by not taking a complete 180 and start becoming serious. It truly is a wonderful show because they never cross the line between romance for comedy and romance so you don't have to experience getting your hopes up. You just continue enjoying the cute moments between the characters without expecting. I highly recommend you watch it because it is a comedic masterpiece that knows when to tone things down and how to utilize a colorful cast for the most gloriously hilarious moments.

NOTICE ME SENPAI.

This show is probably the epitome that defines the meme. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) is about this cute girl named Chiyo Sakura who tries to get the attention of the manly Umetaro Nozaki. You might probably guess it but she has a crush on the guy. From her initial introduction, it’s clear that she wants his attention. But in a show like this, one should also acknowledge the denseness of Nozaki. In fact, his misunderstanding of Sakura as a ‘hardcore fan’ only begins the first steps of this hilarious gag anime.

Directed by Mitsue Yamazaki, it’s refreshing to see this piece of ... work based off the manga being animated. The adaptation is actually based on a comedy gag 4-koma with each chapter telling stories about the characters. In the anime, they are interconnected each episode in a way that tells a story. That story is about Nozaki and Sakura with their little adventures. I should probably reword that and say that their adventure is recognized as more of an experimental journey. Their goal? To create a shoujo manga of the coming ages.

A success to the show combines the formula of romance and comedy. The romance part is the weaker of the half as Nozaki is dense as a rock. But taken the comedy part for granted, the show succeeds with its delivery. Most of it comes from the characters but also the clever timing. It is the precision that plays a key role as comedy scenes are usually created by character expressions and dialogues. In particular, Sakura’s over analysis of certain situations and her delusion from reality makes for some great laughs. Furthermore, there’s Nozaki that often sticks with too much common sense and misinterprets certain situations. If you’re looking for one of those anime where a cute girl tries to the attention of her senpai, this is it.

The story on most parts is constructed by the context of character relationships. In fact, most of the characters (besides Nozaki and Sakura) gets a good amount of screen time. The show emphasizes their relationship in a more comedic way with gags rather than any serious development like you would see though. Yet, it creates that atmosphere of fun. In essence, this series puts fun first and almost everything else second. This also includes the series’ premise to create shoujo manga. Throughout the series, we do see progress on the manga our main characters tries to create. However, it’s also easy to notice that he gets a lot of his ideas from character relationships. It’s like an experimental way of crafting his work with the characters as framework. This also extends further with Nozaki’s ambition to get himself involved in events as long as his work entails its ideas.

In terms of characters, the show depicts them comically by each of their presence. Characters such as Yuzuki Seo and Yu Kashima attracts more attention than others; although very differently. In fact, the show commits to the characters and bring out their best. Seo’s tomboyish personality combined with her opera-like voice is a prominent example of this. On the contrary, the show also likes to make fun of its characters by creating anti-thesis of their outer shells. Mikoto Mikoshiba is a good example of this as his princely outlooks are used to hide his feminine personality. This is taken further with Kashima, a female character who shows almost 90% of her personality as a male. In retrospect, the show maintains its position as a rom-com shoujo with humor coming to blight first. The romance is hardly noticeable but rather played out as a spoof. Character relationships are beta level at best so don’t expect any sort of strong commitment. There’s no emphasis on powerful characterization through flashbacks. Rather, it’s a journey of fun with our characters as they spend their daily lives.

Despite being lean on romance, there’s a lot of feminine dynamics focused on the show. One noticeable aspect involves the shoujo manga Nozaki tries to create. His work “Let’s Fall in Love” is saturated with so much clichés that it outshines Nozaki and Sakura’s relationship in terms of their romance development. This is because his manga is developed throughout the show with ideas from the show’s events itself. Nozaki takes experiences and perfects them into his manga. In essence, he plays the role of a professor to learn about the manga world, in particular shoujo. In fact, there’s a wide spectrum of ideas including delinquents, tomboys, and school girls all packaged into his work. All of them are inspired directly or indirectly from other characters. There’s some ways fans could see this as a parody of the show itself. Either way, it can be hard to take it seriously as the show doesn’t focus the idea with coming-age development. This and the romance ships will play you like a fool if you expect any endgame.

Artwork is defined by mostly with its trademark expressions. Characters portrays a wide variety of expressions but the most easily recognized is Sakura and her moments. This is especially true when she over-thinks a situation and deconstructs its reality. It sharply contrasts with Nozaki who is designed like a manly guy and with a dull expression. Otherwise, the other main characters are designed with bishounen-esque framework such as Kashima and Mikoshiba (minus that skirt of course). Animation studio Dogakobo (Love Lab, GJ-Bu, Mikakunin de Shinkōkei) animates most of the characters to life similar to their other works. It’s noticeable how they are able to focus each character individually and collectively as ensemble. In this show, they achieve their purpose again and even conveys its message that it’s based off of a manga with the polka dots and generic backgrounds. Oh and don’t expect much fan service, at least for the guys anyways. This show’s artwork offers much more service for the ladies.

As for soundtrack, the show isn’t very noticeable. Most of the soundtrack is pretty standard and unremarkable. Because comedy makes up the major toppings of the show, the soundtrack too plays with itself in repetitive cycles. It almost feels as if the soundtrack feels exactly the same with little mood change throughout the series. Only during a few moments when situations gets a bit tense does the soundtrack offer a degree of highlight. Luckily, the character voice mannerisms make up for this. Every main character has a flair to define their personalities when it comes to their voices. The only problem I have is with Chiyo’s voice as she sounds too much like a child. The endless dense moments from Nozaki puts her efforts to shame as she blames herself from not coming out of her shell. Luckily, this isn’t much of a distraction as some of the other characters. The OP and ED songs are brutally cute with the lyrics that will knock you into this world.

This show is great of a laugh. I don’t mean it just laughing at the characters or what the show it’s trying to do. Rather, it’s about the way characters play their roles and how it connects each episode. The chemistry mostly comes with character relationships. And despite not to be taken seriously for development, it’s humorous with their behavior. It’s like taking a group of characters and put them into a fantasy world where they use their experiences to tell a story. That’s exactly what Nozaki has been doing with his shoujo work. In the end though, you’ll be getting a whole load of laughs so lock your windows before the neighbors tells you to shut up.

Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed this series. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, or Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, was a brilliant experience, filled with infectious comedy and a large but loveable cast of characters. Although Nozaki-kun should very well be categorised as a "Romantic Comedy", if one were to judge it from the listed genres, it easily surpasses the limitations of the category and achieves a much higher level of entertainment. To be honest, I did not expect much going into this series, assuming that this would simply be a newer-2014-revamp of Bakuman. However, this show ended up blowing my mind, in every way possible.

So if you ... haven't seen this yet, get your shit together and go watch it, because anime as good as this don't come around very often.

Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sublime comedic rollercoaster that is Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun.

I love it! It is deep, humorous and memorable rolled into one but given this observations, the anime was able show it in a light and demure view point.

I was thrilled by the characters and their personalities, and the situations they are in. It somehow gives me the idea on how humans can be faulty or broken or inadequate but given the situation, the lifetime, or the people you are with, you can always be the perfect fit. This is what the anime is for me.

I could say that I enjoyed every bit of it, although it is heartbreaking that Chiyo was trying ... so hard to tell her feelings to Nozaki and it is not pushing through, this is something that I hold on to. This feeling of pain and hope, that will always leave me wanting for more.

Story: (9/10)

Nozaki-kun doesn't really have a story, unlike One Piece where it has a goal of becoming the Pirate King and obtaining One Piece. What it has is what I would call an outline.

Nozaki, our male hero, misunderstood our heroine, Sakura, feelings and what happens next is what makes this anime golden! The interactions between the characters are what makes this anime alive and using the traditional Japanese comedy style, the manzai. It involves two people, one the straight man and the other being the funny man and it involves mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags. So if you were thinking this is ... a romance story then stop right there because the misunderstood confession between our main characters are only the foundation of this anime and once again the interaction between the characters are what makes this anime what it is. Even so, if this anime knows what they are doing, then they will know that even though the comedy is what makes their audience comes, it is the blossoming love between our main characters that makes us stay! So if they do know what they are doing, this anime might contain some very cute romance moments.

Characters: (10/10)

Once again, the interactions between the characters are what makes this anime comes alive, but this won't work without interesting characters now won't it?

Every characters are beautifully written and you cannot hate any of them. Well... maybe there is one... just watch episode 5 okay...

Anyway! Every comedy out there includes the so normal characters (the straight man) and the weird characters (the funny man) and when they meet, ta-dah! comedy happen!

What makes Nozaki-kun so good are probably because you don't know who's going to be the normal one and who's gong to be the weird one.

Each character are very much normal, that's why they could live in school so peacefully but they are added a little bit of a hidden personality that only comes out when the characters we are given talk to each other. If it's anyone else, they will be most likely conceive as normal.

We have our main heroine, Sakura Chiyo! Who confesses to our other main character, Nozaki, but uses the wrong phrase and founds out her crush secret. That is, him being a shoujo mangaka! That itself is a gag, a big burly man writing a girly love story when he, himself, has yet know love. Sakura is most of the time the normal one, the straight man, the one that calls out on the weirdness that the other characters are doing. But she too can be the funny man, for her crush on Nozaki can't really be called a crush but an obsession.

Our other main character, Nozaki Umetarou, a shoujo mangaka, who misunderstood Sakura's confession and somehow got her to be his assistant. Oblivious to Sakura's feeling, he lives his days trying to make his manga better and trying to get more materials for it.

Our other recurring characters too are what you can call reverses. Think of many tropes that our manga/anime are using right now and I can assure you that our recurring characters are the opposite of it. I don't want to give any spoilers so go watch it right now!

Art: (8/10)

Animes this year do not disappoint! And that includes Nozaki-kun! True to its title, the art are very shoujo like with huge eyes that takes half of the face without really seeing the nose and small mouth. But the animation is steady and does not disappoint. The faces and reaction are a huge plus too!

Sound: (8/10)

Why does all of the animes this year have such good openings?! Nozaki-kun start with a happy and upbeat opening that makes you hum along. The ending is nothing special but it totally sounds nice.

The background music makes the interaction between the characters comes more alive and they are used very well. While they do not make your eyes wander from the show because how awesome it is but you will at least once notice them.

Overall: (9/10)

Some of the jokes are unfortunately are not done right for me, for someone who already read the manga, so some of them seems like it wasn't transitioned right. But for the people who don't know anything about this anime or manga then it will be totally okay.

This anime includes some of the animes traditional tropes, comedy, and puns so for someone who has yet watch many anime it might be difficult to understand why its funny so be careful!

But should you watch this anime?

The answer is YES!

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an anime that I believe anyone will enjoy, but I would recommend it especially to viewers who are looking for a romance anime without necessarily wanting to go on a powerful emotional rollercoaster; in fact, in many ways this show is a parody of your typical shōjo romance anime, and it's handled wonderfully. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is high school comedy done right.

The anime follows Sakura and her endless struggle with confessing her feelings to her schoolmate Nozaki, who also happens to be a shōjo manga artist who goes under the pseudonym Sakiko Yumeno. Nozaki mistakes her for a fan, but invites ... Sakura home and eventually she becomes his assistant. This is where the anime really begins. What this show does so well is how fluidly it introduces its character cast and their lives as high school students. The anime is filled with running gags, cliché shōjo elements turned upside down, witty jokes and scenarios, and the great characters really make it all come to life.

The characters are definitely the highlight of the anime. The show introduces a quirky and colourful cast of unique characters that compliment each other nicely. They create great dynamics throughout the anime and it's nothing but a joy to watch them interact with each other. I'm not going to spend time describing what each character is like, because I want you to find out on your own, but I'm sure that you'll love them just as much as I did, especially if you are into slice of life or high school comedies. What Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun does is that it takes time to develop the side characters as well, instead of just treating them as one-dimensional sidekicks that don't serve much purpose except for just being there. I feel that many shows walk into this trap, but this anime isn't just about Sakura and Nozaki, but about all the characters in the cast, and the show isn't afraid of focusing its attention away from our lovestruck heroine and towards the other characters and their lives as well. This is key to developing compelling characters, and while this is not always a must as far as comedies are concerned, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun really succeeds in this regard, and you will want to follow each one of them.

When it comes to art and sound the show also delivers. The artstyle is colourful and pleasing to the eye; the characters are distinct and neatly designed, and the music compliments the setting and atmosphere nicely. In fact, the music can be so good and evocative at times that I managed to have emotional responses to scenes that were meant as jokes. The seiyuu do a wonderful job at portraying each character, and the opening is one of the catchiest I've heard in recent anime, and the ending radiates a very nice and appropriate feeling.

To conclude, you've got a hilarious parody of the shōjo romance genre in a typical high school comedy setting, and it's beautifully executed. It has wonderful characters that are a joy to follow, and countless situations that will have you laughing. I definitely recommend this anime to anyone who enjoys slice of life comedies. It doesn't redefine the genre in any way and it won't blow you away, but it doesn't have to. If there is a 2014 anime that is worth checking out, it's Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun.

A solid 7/10

There's always two kinds of anime that are really hard to find whenever you look for them: a) a consistent one, and b) a comedy that caters to everyone's taste. Taking the huge amount of series that come out every year, one might find oneself baffled to know that there's just so many of them that actually manage to have some sort of balance. It makes you wonder whether there's no point in expecting something good to come out at all, but, just like everything, there's always an exception. And this season, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is the one that took the anime world by its ... feet.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is the ultimate shoujo parody. Taking the premise of a teenage shoujo mangaka, the show uses any mean to mock most of the common clichés and tropes of the genre, taking them to the ridiculous extent or showing the inherent flaws of their existence. With Nozaki as the central character and Chiyo as the female lead and romantic interest, what one might find at first to be a lighthearted romcom turns out be one of the funniest anime in existence.

And with reason.

The story is far from special. Is pretty much as the synopsis says, with little to no romantic progress to all of the "pairings". However it is hard to complain about this, given that the ingenious quality of the gags and sketches is what makes this show unique and worthwhile. It manages to stay consistently funny through all of its season, provoking from chuckles to histerical laughter in every single episode.

About the characters, it is probably the best part of the show. From the dense Nozaki, to the tender yet down-to-earth Chiyo, to a certain male heroin, and the rest of the cast, they all have a special charisma to them, making them all likeable and funny. Their interactions are gold (especially when it comes to the pairings), and one might find oneself rolling on the floor of laughter by the brilliance of their antics coming in opposition to each other. It's also worth mention that some of their personalities come from subversions of shoujo archetypes, which only adds to their uniqueness.

The animation is done by Dokagobo, and I must say, it's great. It's devoid of all the big shonen fights or the rather extravagant imagery one would find in animes of Shaft, but it's still better than most. It's fluid, consistant, and no matter the angle, the characters are always well drawn. The colors are vivid and wonderful, adding to the light atmosphere of the show. The backgrounds are all well and everything is in its place. If we talk about character desing, then it's kind of generic, but good enough for a series like this.

The music isn't epic or amazing, but fits every scene. Every sound is ritghtly timed for comedic effect, and the bgm does its work well. The seiyuu, for their part, have all a good understanding of their character, and fit them perfectly. This is especially true in the case of Ari Ozawa (Chiyo), something laudable given that's her first leading role in an anime.

So, in terms of enjoyment, where does this show stand? Pretty high, I must say. I laughed every single episode, and loved all of the characters. There was nothing I could really complain too much about, so, if you ask me, I would say you'd be wasting a great treat if you don't watch this show.

Let me repeat it: Watch this. You won't regret becoming a Nozaki's character.

What? Another show where they write manga? And it’s romance, too? Haven’t we seen these tropes already?

I warn thee, do not be so dismissive of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun just from reading its summary. This show may surprise you. And to anyone who says these words with excitement rather than skepticism, sit back and grab your computer, because you will definitely enjoy this.

Okay, here we go.

Plot
Umetarou Nozaki is a high school student highlighting as a popular shoujo manga artist, recruiting his friends to help him. This show doesn’t have too much of a basic plot. Instead it relies on the interactions between its characters to provide ... humor in small scenarios. Most revolve around the characters planning or “researching” the most common shoujo tropes despite their relative inexperience with romance. This show highlights the ridiculousness of romance stories in general by . Although he second main character, Sakura Chiyo, has a terrible crush on Nozaki, nothing is ever played as over angsty. All the characters interactions were refreshingly pure. The show lets us into the fact that romance and friendships in high school don’t have to be dramatic, but can and probably should be fun and silly.
Considering this anime was adapted from a 4koma I think this show does a marvelous job of translating gag strips into coherent, albeit shortened plotlines. Most episodes have two back-to-back episodic mini-plots that make this show very good for casual or repeated viewing.
However, I would say that the show doesn’t really come into its full stride until perhaps the third episode when enough dynamic characters have been introduced that the humor in-group interplay can be fully milked.

Characters
The real standouts in this show are really its characters. For starters we have a pretty even split of male and female, who also each get equal amounts of screen time. Their designs are a bit too similar, but this is lamp shaded within the material and they each have such distinct personalities (not to mention colour schemes), that the same face is never an issue.
The titular character (who looks more like a 20 something salary man than a high school student, but I digress) appears to be our basic stoic type, but taken to a humorous extreme. This keeps his character from falling into the dangers common around this archetype, either ending up being just boring and needlessly callous. We are also given moments of ranging emotion from tenderness, to embarrassment, to excited passion that lend him needed humanity. So I can say, I know boys like this.
Next is our pigtailed heroine. Do not let the first five minutes let you mistake her for an eternally blushing doormat of a high school girl with a crush. Sakura Chiyo is a developed character that is not defined by her relationship, but defined by her pre-meditated actions towards furthering her relationships to others (whether her plans are successful or not is another matter). I found her very relatable from my high school years. Her obsession with Nozaki is comedic, but never pitied or mocked by the narrative, as is so common in teenage girl crush plotlines. And the last episode gave her (to keep spoiler free) a level of maturity that I did not expect from her type of character. Also, did I mention she’s ADORABLE?
The rest of the ensemble is composed of quirky misfits who are celebrated for their oddness, each of them brining something extra to the table that truly makes this anime fun. While I could go into detail on why I love the personality design of each, in order to save space I will not. (Go watch it and find out.)
The characters don’t really go through too much development over the course of the twelve episodes, but we get so little screen time that I didn’t really expect it and it would be jarring if there were huge changes. However, Nozaki and Sakura each get subtle developments; mostly in their attitudes are relationship towards each other that gives the series enough momentum to feel like it naturally progresses towards a finale, despite its episodic nature.

Aesthetic
I adore the look of this show. The palettes are bright, but not blinding and the backgrounds wonderfully detailed. The characters seem to fit within their environments rather than placed on top of them. The animation is good, taking advantage of the form. Much situational humour is dependent upon sight gags through off model or caricatured facial expressions, this variety adds to the charm and visual interest of the show.

Music
The incidental music is pretty standard and not anything to write home about (except the intro which is wonderfully upbeat and sets the tone perfectly), but the score does its job in enhancing the comedic effect of the series. Examples being, exaggerated scores during purposefully overdramatic scenes of trivial events, or played straight tender music during romantic scenes only to be dashed through the sharp stop of a punchline. Otherwise, it does its job providing a cheerful background to the series.

Sub/Dub
All the voice actors did great jobs on this show and it seems obvious it was fun for them to work on. All are good at swinging between the different emotions in the script. Special mention to Nakamura Yuichi (Nozaki) for going monotone for three eps and then breaking out with an impassioned speech and hilariously embarrassed groans and shocked exclamations while all still feeling in character.

Currently, there is no dub version of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun.

Verdict
Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun is honestly one of my new favourite animes and definitely my must watch pick of this last season (yes, I thought it was better than Free!). It’s colourful and earnest, funny without deprecating a single gender, engaging and entertaining, everything I want from a comedy.
Score: 9/10
HIGHLY RECCOMENDED

You can watch this show for free on CrunchyRoll

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an anime, that I come to love.I first watch this anime with my sister,who suggested this anime to me,when I read the summary for this anime,the first thing that came to my mind is the fact that it will just be another shoujo anime wherein the guy would fall in love with girl and they will face love rivals and misunderstandings.but I was proven wrong and this anime exceeded my expectations.

Story(7/10)
The story is okay albeit a bit cliche,it is about a highschool girl named Chiyo,who one day musters up the courage to confess to her crush Nozaki,only to say she is ... his fan instead. Hearing this,Nozaki gets her to assist him in his manga,as he turns out to be a mangaka who goes by the name Yumeno.so Chiyo decides to be his assistant in hopes of Nozaki returning her feelings.

Art (8/10)
The art is appealing and the characters are drawn very well,the backgrounds are okay and coloring of the characters are nice.

Sound(8/10)
The soundtrack is okay,and I really like opening theme

Characters(9/10)
For me,the most interesting part of Gekkan are the characters,they never fail to make you laugh,and each of them are characterised very well.the supporting characters though in my opinion don't really develop much. But,nevertheless I still enjoyed how all of them are conveyed.the main 2 leads are okay and I like their personalities.I like how Chiyo is mature compared to the rest of the cast but can be just as wacky if Nozaki is involved. I like how eccentric Nozaki is especially when he is trying to find inspiration for his manga and he uses his friends as bases for his characters.

Enjoyment(10/10)
I really enjoyed this anime a lot and I was sad to see it end.if it will ever be a season two, I would definitely watch it.

Overall(10/10)
Gekka Shoujo Nozaki-kun is not a typical romantic comedy ,but it is still an anime worth watching,I recommend this anime for people like romantic comedy but with only a little romance.

Story
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun does a great job adapting its manga counterpart to the small screen. The manga is written in 4-koma style, which can cause the storyline to become choppy and confusing at times. The anime really brings all of the smaller scenarios together to create one fluid story.

[ Nozaki-kun adapts content from chapter 1 to chapter 31 of the manga; the two stories are identical up to chapter 13 (where you will find small tidbits and/or explanations not present in the anime). From this point forward, you will find new stories (e.g. chapter 21 featuring Ken-san's background) as well as content seen in the ... anime, but in a different order. These differences are negligible and do not detract from the overall story. ]

Art & Sound
The art and sound are great and stay consistent throughout the series. The opening intro is upbeat, catchy, and full of color. (Definitely a favorite of mine!) The closing credits were lackluster in comparison.

Character
Although the characters could be described by many tropes prevalent in anime, each and every one one was extremely like-able. You can almost see the punchlines coming, but the execution is so well done, you'll still be left in laughter.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed the series so much, I ended up watching it twice: once alone and twice when I had company over. After previewing the first two episodes, each one of my friends continued watching until the end.

Overall
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was definitely a hit for the summer 2014 season. I watched it on a whim thinking I was getting myself into another typical shoujo romance (and boy was I wrong). It started as something to pass time, but shortly became one of the series I had to watch as soon as the simulcast became available. If there's any series you should watch when you've got nothing in your queue, pick Nozaki-kun and you won't regret it.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun) is a fantastic comedy anime. Throughout all twelve episodes the show was great fun to watch and was in general, one of the most fun anime's of the 2014 summer season.

Story and Characters
The story for the show is quite simple but is really fun. With the exeption of Bakuman I have never really been fond of the other animes out there that follows characters making manga,but this is one of the few ones out there I believe to be done well. Which to me is suprising considering that the original magaka's other works have not very well recieved ... as far as I know.

The characters are very likeable and fun to watch and I believe are what makes the show so great. Starting with Nozaki, the writer and artist of the manga, "Let's fall in Love". Who despite writing shoujo manga, has no personal experience in love whatsoever. So he is completley oblivious to Sakura's feelings towards him. And in general is quite weird. Then there's Sakura, a member of the school art club and a girl who admires Nozaki, and is the character who's point of view we see througout. Then there's the rest of Nozaki's assistants, starting with Mikoshiba, who is quite popular and flirtatious with girls. Though on the inside he's really shy otaku and often hides in embarassment after saying bold statements. There's also Hori, president of the school drama club and is very self consious about his short height. Then there's Wakamatsu, who joins Nozaki later to apply screentones to panels. He is part of the basketball team.

Story - 8
Characters - 9

Art and Sound

In terms of the art and animation this show is not a technical marvel by any strech of the imagination, but what's here is very well done and does what it's supposed to do. The expresions on the characters faces are varied, and there is no point in the series where the animation is noticabley off-model. Overall Dogakobo did a good job on the animation.

The music in the series fits the situations the characters are in well, but are not really anything that I would listen to on it's own, with the exeption of the track that plays during the credits of the final episode, as it is really catchy. The OP is also great, and the ED is okay but nothing spectacular.

Art - 7
Sound - 6

Overall

This show is just a blast to watch. The jokes thrown at the screen are almost always hilarious, the characters are lovable and are great fun to watch, and while the story is simple, it is much better executed that most animes about people making manga (with the exeption of Bakuman. That shall never be topped.). This series is definetly worth watching, and since it's free on Crunchyroll you really have no excuse not to watch it, unless you are not into comedies.

Enjoyment - 10
Overall - 9

I currently feel really empty after seeing my favorite show coming to an end (Season 2 WHEN?!), but I can't let anyone just pass by this show without giving it a go. And excuse me for my poor English in case I make mistakes! Hope it doesn't disturb you too much.

At first sight Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun might look like one of those typical Shoujo anime which follows a typical storyline, but hey guess what? This is actually an incredibly hilarious anime that will blow your mind with all these unexpected scenes. I kindly recommend you to step back if you're expecting a Shoujo anime and ... I give you a warm welcome if you're into a comedic show.

The story is set in a high school with a female student as our main protagonist, Chiyo Sakura, who has a crush on a fellow student, Nozaki Umetarou, who is in the same grade. With Chiyo's misunderstood confession to Nozaki she gains the knowledge that he is actually a Mangaka whose Shoujo manga is published monthly in a magazine and somehow ends up as an assistant of his and thus we begin our daily life featuring Chiyo and Nozaki and their fellow companions.

As for the story, there isn't much to say since it doesn't follow a solid main story line of any sort except for the daily lives of Nozaki as a mangaka and how he sees the world differently from every other "normal" person would do.
I can't give a professional answer for the art & sound field since I don't usually pay much attention to it, but the art was definitely well-done. I wouldn't call it particularly great, but it was on an acceptable level to enjoy the show. For the sound, I found the opening song outstanding and very enjoyable.

Coming to characters this is probably one of the shows that has the most diverse characters that are typically to be seen in a manga or an anime. I believe this is what makes the show really enjoyable for they lead the show to multiple unexpected outcomes of events which turns out absolutely hilarious. The humor is very different from any other I have seen so far as well.

In conclusion, I believe this is a show that can be enjoyed by anyone and I recommend this to anyone who are into comedic shows and don't mind having it a solid plot line. If you decide to give it a go I hope that you will find your enjoyable moments as I did.

I give this a show a 9/10.

I guess this beats Isshuukan Friends in terms of friend-zoning? heh...

The 'manga' theme stays alive in anime after 'Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to' with this interesting anime. I knew I would be expecting something grander like this. The first time I looked upon this before it aired, I wonder if it would be the same as the anime I mentioned earlier, but it happens not to be.

This season has quite a number of anime that varies in a lot of genres. While there's the dramatic Aldnoah.Zero, and the intense romantic-driven Ao Haru ride, we have the comedic heart-warming Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. Produced by Dogakobo, who made ... cute fascinating slice of life comedies, this anime never fails to make people enjoy. While we weep at those sad moments from other anime, we also smile at the wonders and joys in this anime.

One fateful day, Chiyo confesses her love to Nozaki in a classroom. Mistaking her as a fan, he signs an autograph to her before inviting her to his house, where she finds out he is a manga artist. From there, she learns more about him and meet more characters Nozaki has worked alongside with his manga.

The story has a lot of hilarious comedy in it, from Nozaki's misunderstanding to the characters' personalities. I like how it uses a lot of shoujo manga tropes, as Nozaki draws shoujo manga, to make it funny as he often finds ways to make them appear in his manga. He has no experiences in love, hence his love manga may be a bit awkward, even his editor gets upset. It also portrays a typical high school crush, or one way love, as Chiyo tries to have Nozaki fall in love with her. Despite trying so, she always doesn't work out well, but in the end, she still feels a bit satisfied the way she is with him.

Many times, this anime is very cute, not only because of Chiyo but also some of the characters as well. The story isn't very serious in terms of romance and I liked it. Sometimes, there are anime where they took romance too seriously that it went off-track with the main story.

The conclusion leaves a sweet feeling, yet a bit unexpected, for me at least. But it does close a good story well, although there is a continuation after the anime ending in the manga.

At first, I would think that the characters are just another boring bunch of typical characters you see in slice of life anime. But I was surprised by the personalities of these characters which are quite unexpected. Of course, I love how these personalities portray the comedy the anime offers.

Nozaki seems to be feel neutral throughout the story, with the way he speaks, and the way he expresses his emotions. There isn't nothing negative about this. But sometimes he does smile or act happily with his friends or his thoughts. Meanwhile, Chiyo is the character which I find very pleasant about. She's very cute and I quite like her thoughts and decisions, which turned out to be the opposite effect sometimes. She hangs out with her friends well and definitely is rounded with her emotions. She is a character that doesn't seem to fit in a romantic-drama story, because she's unique in that sense.

There are other characters, naming some of them, Mikoto, Seo, Kashima, Hori, and Wakamatsu, whom are quite surprising with their personalities. Obviously, I would thought that they are just static characters that acts what they act as always. But I was happy to find out that they are also rounded characters because of their personalities and feelings towards one another.

Despite not having a serious romance story, there are actually a number of ships in the story. While Chiyo goes for Nozaki, Kashima goes for Hori while Seo goes for Wakamatsu. Whatever the reasons shall be, I find that the story has some emphasis in these shippings as well and I liked it.

There is character development in some characters, mostly because they bonded together one another. Chiyo and Nozaki still has that 'friend-zoning' relationship which is still funny, while the rest still chases for their counterpart.

I'm impressed with the art style that shows vibrant colours and nice tones. The scenery is spectacular and sometimes, the atmosphere is lively with idling animations from minor characters. The character designs are nice with a touch of matching personality with each character. Facial expressions are exaggerated to put up the comic relief, and most of them are very cute, especially from Chiyo. There is never any fan-service, which I find it satisfying.

Manga takes a role in this anime and Nozaki's drawings, with the help of others with their roles, make his manga looks cool. The opening visuals are awesome that feels like characters coming out from a manga book. The ending visuals, however, is a bit plain, but is still cute with Chiyo minding her own business.

The opening song has to be the best opening of this season, due to its catchy beats and astounding vocals from Masayoshi Ooishi. I got to love how he sings and it makes me grove into the tunes. The ending is quite different, and it is such a heart-warming song. Sung by Chiyo's VA, Ari, it feels like I'm drowning in tears of joy and the rhythm just plays in galore. Both songs have some relation into the anime and I loved it.

Most of the time, the background music is quite relaxed and it matches the mood of the scenes, along with the sound effects. The voice acting is perfect, with a lot of voice actors putting a lot of effort into voicing their respective characters. There are a number of recognisable voice actors such as Yuuichi (voicing Nozaki) and Miyuki (voicing Seo). Ari is relatively new into voice acting, and I think she did an awesome job voicing her first main character.

I have absolutely enjoyed this anime from the start and I really hoped to see more of this in the future. I am glad this anime takes a huge following from the viewers and it is quite shocking because I thought it wouldn't be that famous. It has certainly became one of the best anime I have watched this season and I'm proud to feel that way.

Well... I guess I must say goodbye to this wonderful cheery anime for now. I want my second season please!

Let me start by saying that I really, really enjoyed Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. When I first heard of this anime, my reaction was 'What the heck kind of name is that?!' In case you're wondering, the name comes from Nozaki-kun, one of the main characters who is a manga artist in a monthly girl's manga magazine.

The main strength of GSNK is in its ensemble cast. Apart from the main character (Sakura), the rest of the supporting cast are VERY unique and interesting individuals that make you want to know more about them. The characters play off one another in somewhat predictable ways once you know ... them, but the execution is flawless and had me laughing out loud many times. As a series about a guy writing girls' manga, it is very good at subverting gender roles for comedic effect in a way which won't make you feel uncomfortable, while also making fun of shoujo manga tropes.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (GSNK) is adapted from an ongoing series of 4-panel comics and this is obvious if you know what to watch for. If you try hard, you can kind of see where the 'skits' start and end in each episode, though they are almost seamlessly stitched together in a coherent fashion. Because of this, there is not much character progression from the start to the end of the anime, though this may also be because it is only a 12 episode series which features a strong ensemble cast. By the time all the characters had been introduced and I felt comfortable with them, it was already episode 7 or 8, which only left a few episodes till the wrap up. The ending was extremely unsatisfying for me as there were just so many open threads which were left open. It almost feels like they were expecting more seasons, but unfortunately no news has been heard on that front to date :( (as of April 2015)

To conclude, I would like say that in order to fully enjoy this anime, you should have at least a passing familiarity with shoujo manga, or at least non-shounen battle-type manga (I read Ouran Highschool Host Club before watching this, and I believe this helped me appreciate the themes and subject matter a lot more).

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

Shoujo manga, stories about love and relationships aimed mostly at girls. But is that all that makes up shoujo manga? What goes on behind the scenes that lets it come to fruition? In Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, its take on the subject, combined with great humor and unique characters, sets it apart from other romantic-comedies in the field.

STORY

GSN starts with our main protagonist Chiyo having the courage to confess to the boy she loves. However, after certain events, she finds herself as part of his team in the creation of his own line of shoujo manga.

While Gekkan Shoujo's main ... shtick and source of comedy comes from the genre, the show itself is actually not shoujo. It is entirely a comedy, and a good one at that. Much of what GSN does is play on the tropes and stereotypes of shoujo to create the numerous situations that the characters are put through. The show takes place in high school, and therefore uses strange relationship combinations to poke fun at shoujo and get its points across.

Speaking of relationships, this is also what the show does so expertly. The character interactions are solid, and are another main source of the comedy. The cast works extremely well together because of disparity that is apparent between them. For example, Kashima and Hori represent the love-hate relationship but with roles reversed. This provides many interesting gags that the show executes very well. And this is true for each relationship within the show.

I never felt the comedy to grow weak. Its quality stayed consistent throughout the entirety of the season. Certain episodes are stronger than others but each episode easily had you laughing with a big grin on your face.

My only gripe with the story is the lack of romance. Romance itself is always hinted at, joked about, and alluded too throughout the show. Those times are as every bit as funny as the rest of it. However, being a romance buff myself, I would have liked to have seen at least a bit more in this department. The show is probably nine-tenths comedy and one-tenth romance; I would have liked it to have been three-quarters comedy and one-quarter romance.

ANIMATION

GSN's art style is somewhat generic. The environments generally take place within the same few areas (Nozaki's apartment, the school, etc.) but everything was still adequate in detail.

Where the art style is lacking, the character designs and animation quality is not. Starting with the designs, I loved them all. Again, going against shoujo stereotypes, the characters are designed in such a way so as to make them realistic but also comedic. Chiyo especially gets mentioned. I loved the way she was depicted in the show, and was always happy to see her on screen.

As for the animation, the character's show nice movement. But above all, their reactions are priceless. I enjoy good "reaction faces" in anime, and this was another staple of the show that allowed for great hilarity. Once again, Chiyo takes the spotlight: her differing faces of confusion, happiness, and "What the hell?" always made me laugh.

CHARACTERS

Arguably the strongest part of the show, GSN's characters are vibrant, funny, and above all, unique.

Kashima represents an "anti-trap". She is a girl, who dresses in girl's clothing but is often mistaken for a guy. Hori is a guy who acts somewhat like a tsundere. Mikoto is a very handsome guy with feminine appeal. Seo is a girl who is very direct and honest about what she wants whereas Wakamatsu always has a wild imagination about the outcomes of events. These characters are the opposite of the tropes that are normally prevalent in the genres that they are found. And much of the comedy comes from this. The characters work wonderfully in harmony, and are always utilized to their fullest in their respective scenes.

The biggest leads, Chiyo and Nozaki, are also of note because their roles are reversed, too. In shoujo fashion, Chiyo is the girl looking to get Nozaki the guy, but instead of them gradually coming together, their relationship is rife with missed signals and pretty much zero progress. Again, while this may seem tedious or boring, it's not; because the whole point is in the way everything is delivered. It is always funny to see Chiyo try to advance her relationship towards Nozaki only to have him worried about boxes instead.

And this is true for all of the pairings in the show. Kashima x Hori and Seo x Wakamatsu are role-reversed, and because of this, the comedy speaks volumes. At the same time, they are some of the most and least trope-y characters I have seen but it is for this reason that the characters work so well.

As a final note here, special shout out to Chiyo. I adore her character, not only for being cute but for being extremely likable and cheerful. She has been one of the better lead female comedy characters in a while, and give her big props for what she brought to the show.

SOUND

The OP for GSN is quite catchy. The guitar slapping and general smoothness of the beat makes it easy to listen to and gets you in the mood for the show. The ED is all about Chiyo and is very "hip-hop"-esque in its repeated lines that make it easy to remember and nice to hear.

While the rest of the soundtrack doesn't necessarily have anything too outstanding, it is still nicely composed and used appropriately throughout the show.

As for the voice acting, Ari Ozawa's performance of Chiyo was exceptionally done and deserves high praise. She captured her voice beautifully and did a stand-out job. I hope to hear more of her work in the future!

ENJOYMENT

At the end of the day, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is a fantastic comedy. It's hilarious the whole way through, and coupled with its cute and endearing moments, there is nothing really to complain about. Again, much of the show's appeal comes not from the actual art style or story, but from the unique characters and the way they interact between each other during their situations.

While wanting more romance is more of a personal feeling, the comedy is top-notch. None of the jokes felt stale or overused and the scenarios that develop are varied enough to make you wanting more and more. On top of that, the reactions from the cast will always bring a smile to your face, whether this be when Chiyo grins enthusiastically because Nozaki walked her home or because Seo maniacally laughs during a movie with Wakamatsu. The characters are all lovable for what they do and say, and I loved seeing them every week.

SUMMARY

Story: Good, solid romantic-comedy with just not enough romance

Animation: Good, animation and designs are high but art style is low

Characters: Great, unique and funny is a profitable combination

Sound: Great, OP, ED, and Chiyo's VA are a pleasure to hear

Enjoyment: Great, too many laughs to count

Final Score: 9/10